Mass Effect 2 Walkthrough & Strategy Guide

The next person you should speak with is perhaps the closest to Tali, a male named Admiral Gerrel. Gerrel is an old friend of Tali's father, who is presumed dead on the seized ship, the Alarei. You'll get the most information out of Gerrel, since he's a friendly person to speak with. The basic gist of what he has to say is simple. Tali's father was working on figuring out weaknesses to Geth technology because the Quarians are pondering if it's time to attack their own homeworld, in order to take it back from the Geth. Not everyone agrees with this of course (and Shepard knows firsthand that it's probably a suicide mission), but that's currently where the Migrant Fleet stands. Following your conversation with Gerrel, feel free to backtrack to where the Normandy is docked. You can have a brief, explosive conversation with Captain Kar'Danna, though he basically repeats what was already told to you -- that keeping the true nature of what happened to Tali's father secret was the key to convincing the admirals to let her see if she can retake the Alarei. Fair enough.

Well, there's no more room for delay. There's work to be done. When you're certain you've spoken to everyone you possibly can, head back to the room where your trial took place. While facing the front end of the room, head to the right end of the area, and take the stairs up through a door. Then, begin to follow the linear corridors from there, and you'll ultimately be brought to the room where a shuttle is waiting to take you to the Alarei. Speak with the guard posted at the door, another Quarian familiar with Tali. After a brief conversation, you can opt to head on board the shuttle. You'll then witness a brief scene of the shuttle flying to the Alarei, and thereafter, you'll gain control of your party, guns (finally) drawn.

As you gain control on the Alarei, push forward through the door, and immediately run forward to take cover. Geth Troopers occupy this room in full force, in addition to more enemies that will stream out of the door ahead and on your left. In fact, with the exception of the Geth that are already posted in this room upon your entrance, all other Geth enemies will be coming from the door on the left. Thus, if you can trust your party members to deal with extraneous threats already present in the room, you can focus on killing enemies as soon as they walk into the room, nullifying their numbers before they become overwhelming. Geth Hunters will be amongst this group of attackers, so don't lose sight of them, as they have the ability to use moderately-effective stealth technology. When all has been quieted in this room, proceed to examine the far end of the lab. You'll find computer terminals tucked in the right corner. Two of them will give you credits when examined, while a third will play a voice recording. Near the door leading leftward, you can find heavy ammunition, and back towards the way you initially breached the room, you can find a medical container as well.

In the next hallway, you'll find three doors that you can go through. Ignore the door furthest from your location, and focus on the other two first. The initial door you encounter will reveal a small research laboratory. Within, you can find a hackable computer terminal, as well as another medical kit. What's most important here is the Geth machinery on one of the tables. Upon examining it, a conversation will ensue with Tali. You can ask her about the packages she sent, how she got the parts and components to her dad, and about the precautions she took in ensuring that none of the Geth architecture she sent was "alive." When you regain control, bear out of this room and open the next door you encounter. This far smaller room has only one object of interest -- a computer terminal. Hack it successfully, and you'll gain some armor research to be used back on the Normandy.